Pencil-sharpener.



No. 720,821. PATENTBD FEB. 17, 1903;

Y W. E. KROUSE. PENCIL SHARPENER.

APPLICATION FILED NGV. 21, 1902.

H0 MODEL.

WiTNESS ES. INVENTOR. a 76W. 06%, I

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Nrrfno STATE PATENT Grrrcn.

WALTER n. KROUSE', or fn'fnginenronl, CONNECTICUT.

PENCIL-SHEABPENER,

srncirxcarxorv forming part of'Letters Pagan No. 720,821, dated February 17, 1903.

, Application filedNovember 21,1902, $erial-hlorl32,288. (No model.)

To LLZZ whom, it may concern:

' Be it known that I, WALTER E. KROUSE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, State of (Jonnecticut, have invented a uewand useful Pencil-Sharpener, of which the following is a specification; a

My invention has for its object to provide a simple, inexpensive, durable, and thoroughly practical sharpener for lead-pencils, one that may be used as a hand-tool, that is not attached in'place or which may, if preferred, be permanently attached in place, as to a desk or table, the special requirement, however, being to produce a tool of this character which is in no danger of getting broken or out of repair under the ordinary conditions of use,but which will stand considerable rough usage and still be ready to do good work when-' ever it is required and will, moreover, put an even point on a pencil having a lead out of center. I

With these and other objects in viewI have devised the simple and novel pencil-sharpener of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, reference characters being used to indicate the several parts.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my novel pen.- cil-sharpener as in use; Fig. 2, a plan view thereofg'Fig. 3, a longitudinal section, and Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line 1 4 in Fig, 1. V

My novel pencil-sharpener consists, essentially, of a body 10, a rotary pencil-carrier 11, and a reciprocating cutter 12. The cutter is adapted to slide in a way 13, which lies at an acute angle to'the pencil-carrier. The way and the body may be formed from sheet metal in one or more pieces or may be cast, if preferred. The pencil-carrier is tubular in form to adapt it to rotate in a central longitudinal opening in the body. It is preferably made of sheet metal, is externally beveled at its rear end to adapt it to receive a slide 29, and is provided with one or more slots 14:, so as to separate the metal at the rear end into springs 15, the free ends of which are adapted to grip a pencil, which I have indicated by 31, when forced inward by the slide. In practice the rear end of the pencil-carrier may be externally threaded, if preferred, and slide a ver.

tains the pawl in operative position and causes 29 may be internally threaded and serve as a nut. The body .is shown as provided with a handle 16, secured: thereto by means of a screw 17.- J (Shown only in dotted lines in Fig. 1.) Should it be desired to attach the 5 tool permanently in place, the handle may be removed and'the tool secured to a desk or table by means of the screw. Other fastening devices, as a clamp, may be used, if preferred, but are not illustrated, as they form no portion of my present invention. The carrier is provided with a ratchet-wheel 18, which lies against the rear end of the body, the carrier being shown as retained in place in the body, but left free to rotate therein by means of a plate219, whichfidepends from the under side of the way.

2O denotes a spring which may be secured to the way or to plate 19 and bears against the pencil-carrier to retain it by frictional Contact in any position in which it may be placed.

21 denotes a lever pivoted to the body and carrying a pawl 22, which is adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchet-wheel and move the latter forward, carrying the pencil-carrier with it one tooth at each actuation of the le- A spring 23, carried by the lever, re-

.it to engage a tooth of the ratchet-wheel at each backward movement of the lever and carry the ratchet-wheel forward and to slip backward over a tooth of the ratchet-wheel at each forward movement of the lever. The special design of the lever is of course not of the essence of my invention. I have shown the lever as provided with a notch 24, which is engaged by a pin 25, extending outward laterally from the cutter, the cutter being shown as provided with a central lug 26, to which the pin is attached. At the forward end of the cutter is an oblique edge 27 and at the rear end a handpiece 28 for convenience in operation.

30 denotes a stop on the outer side of the way, which may or may not be provided andwhich serves to limit the outward movement of the cutter in use, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

The operation is as follows: The cutter is withdrawn to substantially the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1, slide 29 removed, and the pencil pushed into the carrier from the rear until in the required position for sharpening. Thisposition may be determined by moving the cutter forward until the edge touches the wood of the pencil, the pencil being moved in or out until the edge engages it at about where it is desired to have the tip commencetl1at is, the point where the cutter commences to remove wood. In commencing with a new pencil it is better to change the position of the pencil once and not attempt to complete the tipduring one rotation of the pencil. Having adjusted the pencil in the carrier, the slide is moved to place thereon and clamps springs 15 against the pencil, causing them to grip the pencil firmly. The operator then pushes the cutter forward from the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 to the position shown indotted lines. As the cutter moves forward pin 25 will engage the notch in the lever and will swing it forward from the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 to substantially the position shown in dotted lines, the pawl moving backward over one of the teeth of the ratchet-wheel. When the cutter is moved backward, it will swing the lever from the position shown in dotted lines toward the position shown in full lines and will through the engagement of the pawl with a tooth of the ratchet-wheel carry the latter forward one tooth and with it the pencil-carrier and the pencil, so that at the next forward movement of the cutter a new shaving of wood will be removed from the pencil close to where the last shaving was removed. In practice the ratchet-wheel may be provided with ten or twelve teeth, more or less, so as to complete a rotation of the pencil in ten or twelve forward movements of the cutter, each removing a shaving from the wood of the pencil. It is of course well understood that it is a serious objection to most of the pencil -'sharpeners now in use that they will not make go'c'd points except when the pencil-lead is exactly in the center of the wood; but if the lead is out of center they remove the wood on one side Well down on the lead, leaving wood on the opposite side nearly to the end of the lead, so that in use the lead breaks quickly. In using my novel pencil-sharpener, however, should the lead be out of center the operator first uses the tool in the usual manner, taking care not to cut into the wood too deeply on the side on which the lead is nearest the periphery, then turns the carrier forward until the side on which the lead is farthest from the periphery is in position to be engaged by the cutter, and then adjusts the pencil specially and makes the necessary cuts, each forward movement of the cutter of course removinga shaving of the wood of the pencil. These special cuts may be made wholly independently of the ordinary feeding action of the lever, pawl, and ratchet-wheel, it being of course obvious that the carrier may be turned forward at any time, the pawl slipping over the teeth of the ratchet-wheel, and that each backward movement of the cutter will move the carrier forward one tooth.

Having thus described my invention, I claim-- 1. A pencil-sharpener consisting of a body, a pencil-carrier adapted to rotate therein, a cutter adapted to slide at an angle to the body and mechanism intermediate the cutter and the carrier whereby the latter is rotated at each return movement of the cutter.

2. A pencil-sharpener consisting of a body, a pencil-carrier adapted to rotate therein and carrying a ratchet-wheel, a cutter adapted to slide at an angle to the body and having a projecting pin, a lever carried by the body and adapted to be engaged by the pin anda spring-controlled pawl upon the lever which is adapted to engage the ratchet-wheel and rotate the carrier one actuation at each return movement of the cutter.

3. A pencil-sharpener consisting of a body, a pencil-carrier adapted to rotate therein and carrying a ratchet-wheel, a cutter adapted to reciprocate in a way lying oblique to the body and mechanism intermediate the cutter and the ratchet-wheel whereby the latter is actuated at each reciprocation of the cutter.

4. A pencil-sharpener consisting of a body, a pencil-carrier adapted to rotate therein, a cutter adapted to slide at an angle to the body, mechanism intermediate the cutter and the carrier whereby the latter is rotated at each reciprocation of the cutter and a spring bearing upon the carrier and holding it by friction in any position in which it may be placed.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WALTER E. KROUSE. Witnesses:

A. M. WOOSTER, S. W. ATHERTON. 

